An affordable rail vehicle that could travel in excess of 250 mph (110 m/s) would be a desirable alternative to the airplane in densely populated areas. Attempts to make such a vehicle using conventional wheel drive, such as the Japanese Bullet Train, require specially constructed drive rails to absorb the tremendous forces generated by the drive wheels. Such trains cannot be used on conventional rails.
The linear induction motor has been proposed as the propulsion system for such a vehicle. Much lighter rail construction may be used when the rails are not subject to the driving force. Linear induction motors have been known for many years and typically include an armature or reaction rail extending along the track and a powered stator carried by the vehicle. The reaction rail typically is a continuous length of nonferrous metal such as aluminum. In operation, the stator coils induce eddy currents in the reaction rail which create magnetic fields that react with the magnetic fields of the stator coils to cause the stator to move relative to the reaction rail.
Because of edge effects and penetration time, conventional linear induction motors have inherent velocity limitations related to their length; i.e., the longer the motor, the higher the potential speed of the motor. To overcome this limitation, applicant has designed a linear motor based on the principles of the Magnetic Reconnection Launcher of his earlier U.S. Pat. No. 4,817,494, issued Apr. 4, 1989, which patent is incorporated herein by reference. This patent describes an electromagnetic gun where an aluminum plate is projected at high velocity by energizing a pair of coils as the trailing edge of the plate traverses a gap between the coils.